Monday, December 21, 2009

Sugar cookies always look so pretty, but most of the time they taste bland and leave me feeling like I just wasted a lot of calories on what could have been a delicious chocolate chip cookie. Instead of reading through all the sugar cookie recipes I could find in hopes of lucking out on one that actually tastes great, I made Dorie's espresso shortbread minus the espresso. These are pure and buttery with excellent texture. It almost feels like waste to slather it up with cloyingly sweet icing, which also only took me hours to decorate. For decorating cookies, I would definitely recommend royal icing over the glaze kind simply because it has a nicer finish. I prefer the texture of it better too even though the meringue powder has a slightly sour aftertaste. To colour the icing, it is important to use the icing gels instead of food colouring because that might dilute the royal icing too much. When using royal, you also have to make sure to keep it covered because it dries quickly. For one batch of cookies, you'll probably only need to make half a batch of royal icing..

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread CookiesAdapted from Dorie GreenspanBaking: From My Home to Yours

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated.

Form 2 discs and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Bake one tray at a time for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to a rack.

Royal IcingWhimsical Cakehouse

In a large bowl of a clean electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip to stiff peaks:1/4 cup meringue powder1/2 cup cold water

Add and mix at low speed with a paddle attachment, until combined:1 lb confectioner's sugar

Continue mixing at high speed for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the icing is stiff.

Add and mix on low speed until combined:1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth while you are working with or coloring the icing, or immediately place it in an airtight container or pastry cone; otherwise, a hard crust will quickly form as it dries.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A woman who I used to work with asked me to bake cupcakes for a birthday party. This was my first paid cupcake order so it was a little nerve wracking. She gave me a lot of freedom with the flavours, which was was actually worse for me because I can never make up my mind. In the end, I went with raspberry cream cheese because you can never really go wrong with cream cheese frosting... that's why we eat red velvet cupcakes right? I wish I could have done something super cool with the decorating, but it was really difficult to pipe cream cheese frosting without it looking sloppy and melty so I swirled it using my largest round tip. I was beyond excited when she told me how much she loved them!

Directions1. Preheat over to 350 degrees (Amy uses 375, but I think that's too high).2. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt together3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.4. Beat in eggs, one at a time making sure it's well incorporated5. Beat in vanilla6. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with milk. Do not overbeat.7. Divide batter evenly. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.9. Cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes then transfer cupcakes to cool completely

Beat butter on medium-low speed until smooth and creamyAdd cream cheese and beat on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy (30 seconds-1 minute)Sift powdered sugar over creamed mixture and beat on medium low until the sugar is all incorporated Add jam and continue beating.Make sure you don't overbeat or else the frosting will become soupy.